Battle between Software and hardware

I feel where Rox coming from as well. Not even a year in the game, I spent a good amount of money and I had just started producing in a year non stop(Yes, I learned that quick!). I realized that I'm not on the level of a major, and with being in the military, going software was the smarter way to go, plus I could save the more money and use it to promote myself, and master my music. With the extra $$, I could start building my studio if I decide to. Selling the Triton Extreme and now Akai MPC 4000 is a huge sacrifice, but in the end I could make the same or better music on a Apple G4/G5. Whether it be 5 or 10 years, I, like everyone else need time for all this stuff to marinate. It isn't the equipment. It is the music!

orjanbeats wrote:

Beat God wrote:

EMFinite wrote:1 channel??...lol

they should make some affordable boards. thats what they need to do.

if they make affordable boards then the sound that u r looking for won't be that classic ssl sound. the point is 2 have good a/d d/a conversion and to route the track to and from the channel strip. i rather do this for 30 tracks for 4k than spend 400k on more channels.

Why is that? aren't people mainly using hardware mixers for their summing boxes?

or...?

.....

Lot's of interesting discussions going on here...

I wouldn't start comparing analog-gear vs. digital-gear 'cos
in my opinion they're just different... u cannot reproduce
the sound that you get when recording drums thru SSL into
a studer and to a analog tape. That's why the big boys still
use them.. ..but they bring it to protools after that of cource.
and using a REALLY good hardwarecompressor
makes a big difference but there's no real winner here..
Different workingmethods for different jobs i suppose..
I love my MAC and my waves and they are very heavily
involved in my production but wouldn't want just to use that..

In the end of the day good or shit-gear don't make your music
great.. a good mix on a good song makes it a lot better of cource
but it can't save a shit song anyways.. i mean how often have you heard a really horribly mixed song but it's just working and you're nodding your head like crazy? I bet there's people out there that could
beat me to a pulp by just using something like Roland SP-404
..now that's a scary thought.

...is the horse dead yet

Ouch!
I'll learn the ropes...

I started this thread, and I have found my personal solution. And this was I found a good way to use them both. get v-stack or chainer, to use the vst's with you mpc

MasterChief wrote:Lot's of interesting discussions going on here...

I wouldn't start comparing analog-gear vs. digital-gear 'cos
in my opinion they're just different... u cannot reproduce
the sound that you get when recording drums thru SSL into
a studer and to a analog tape. That's why the big boys still
use them.. ..but they bring it to protools after that of cource.
and using a REALLY good hardwarecompressor
makes a big difference but there's no real winner here..
Different workingmethods for different jobs i suppose..
I love my MAC and my waves and they are very heavily
involved in my production but wouldn't want just to use that..

In the end of the day good or ****-gear don't make your music
great.. a good mix on a good song makes it a lot better of cource
but it can't save a **** song anyways.. i mean how often have you heard a really horribly mixed song but it's just working and you're nodding your head like crazy? I bet there's people out there that could
beat me to a pulp by just using something like Roland SP-404
..now that's a scary thought.

Yes you can ...almost

Waves SSL 4000 Series plugin

You'll get a channel strip, an equalizer and a master compressor. The phase cancellation was measured to be -35 dB, which is supposed to be pretty good.

I Love Em Both

I use both software and hardware. I can rock a lot of stuff on the PC with the use of various softsynths (SampleTank, Battery, Kompakt, Reason, etc.). I use a Radium49 to trigger most of the events via FL Studio 5 so there is not much mouse clicking involved as far as constructing a track. In fact the library I am using now on my MPC is all from what I have gathered from use with Fruity Loops.

"Nowadays anything is better than creating beats using the pause tape method"

What everone is leaving out is the cost of the computer it self. The cost to have it up to speed to run all the programs and what not. if you look at it that way its about even. Good computer and sowftware plus recording program. Thats $2500 easy and you still need a good mic pre and monitors
Lets say total is 4 grand for the basics. Now hardware lets say a classic motif 6 and a digital recorder that burns cds a mic and mic pre and monitors same 4 grand if your smart. Now to get more sounds on the computer, vsts maybe 100 to 400 and sound cards for hardware 100 to 350. the difference between the two is the big screen and sample chopping. But at the end of the day how much chopping do you really need how many vst's do you really need. The kiss formula is always the best for music keep it simple stupid.
How many times have you heard a number one hit record with only like four sounds in it. Drums, bass, Keyboard, and maybe a sample. Do you really need alot of hardware or software to do that. The most important thing is the song and that is the beat, the hook and lastly the lyrics. If you can make hot sh$T ON THE COMPUTER THAN DO IT IF YOU CAN MAKE HOT SH$T ON THE HARDWARE THAN DO IT. If you are hardware i must admit you cant beat the computer for recording and the price isnt that bad if you already have a computer that can handle the programs. At the same time hardware for recording can be alot easier to work with and therfore you will spend more time making music instead of fighting the learning curve. Plus you can still get some very good recordings from digital workstations. At the end of the day if you make it big you will be in a big time studio anyway so get what you can get and make the hots with it. Send out your demo and pray or open up your own label and push your own stuff and even if you do the later you will want your final product done by the pro's so you will still end up in the big time studio. If you dont think so and you think you can produce the beat, mix down the track and master it like the pro's then go for it. Home studios to me are so you can get most of the work done at home so you can cut the cost of studio time by being prepare with the trrack and the lyrics. Now instead of being in the studio for 6 hours trying to do the song, mix the sond and master the song maybe its just mastering the song with a little extra mix downs and maybe you cut the studio time in half if not more. Thats my take.

Well said .

DeviousDaOnly wrote:What everone is leaving out is the cost of the computer it self. The cost to have it up to speed to run all the programs and what not. if you look at it that way its about even. Good computer and sowftware plus recording program. Thats $2500 easy and you still need a good mic pre and monitors
Lets say total is 4 grand for the basics. Now hardware lets say a classic motif 6 and a digital recorder that burns cds a mic and mic pre and monitors same 4 grand if your smart. Now to get more sounds on the computer, vsts maybe 100 to 400 and sound cards for hardware 100 to 350. the difference between the two is the big screen and sample chopping. But at the end of the day how much chopping do you really need how many vst's do you really need. The kiss formula is always the best for music keep it simple stupid.
How many times have you heard a number one hit record with only like four sounds in it. Drums, bass, Keyboard, and maybe a sample. Do you really need alot of hardware or software to do that. The most important thing is the song and that is the beat, the hook and lastly the lyrics. If you can make hot sh$T ON THE COMPUTER THAN DO IT IF YOU CAN MAKE HOT SH$T ON THE HARDWARE THAN DO IT. If you are hardware i must admit you cant beat the computer for recording and the price isnt that bad if you already have a computer that can handle the programs. At the same time hardware for recording can be alot easier to work with and therfore you will spend more time making music instead of fighting the learning curve. Plus you can still get some very good recordings from digital workstations. At the end of the day if you make it big you will be in a big time studio anyway so get what you can get and make the hots with it. Send out your demo and pray or open up your own label and push your own stuff and even if you do the later you will want your final product done by the pro's so you will still end up in the big time studio. If you dont think so and you think you can produce the beat, mix down the track and master it like the pro's then go for it. Home studios to me are so you can get most of the work done at home so you can cut the cost of studio time by being prepare with the trrack and the lyrics. Now instead of being in the studio for 6 hours trying to do the song, mix the sond and master the song maybe its just mastering the song with a little extra mix downs and maybe you cut the studio time in half if not more. Thats my take.

Hardware and software are two totally different beasts. Right now I'm trying to sell my MPC and Microkorg to go with a software based set up (MacBook Pro + Logic 7.2). Some people are neglecting certain details, for example even hardware (rompler's va's etc.) such as Motif ES or Fantom are just recreations of other instruments and you can have just as good recreations (and better) using software, but your not gonna get the same sound as the actual instrument on either of them, that's the real deal. For me the MPC and Microkorg was great for hip hop but I wanna move in a different direction musically and I have no more use for them in what I want to do.

I have not heard one soft synth sound as good as a motif, or a roland

Check out Spectrasonic's Atmosphere and tell me you can make the same sounds on a Motif.

no thanks, you go ahaed. have fun.